Match fit: how to prevent injury in the AFL season
AFL, footy or “Aussie Rules” as it’s affectionately known, is one of the greatest sports you can play to optimise your fitness. Incorporating agility, balance, power, speed and strength (among other essential attributes), this legendary game is one of the best ways to stay fit whilst partaking in a fun and social event!
But footy is a rough and tumble game, and one that presents many opportunities to go home with an injury, and therefore it’s imperative to keep yourself fit and healthy throughout the season!
So, grab your best AFL merchandise online, get down to the local and remember to follow these imperative fitness tips throughout the season:
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Maintain a high level of fitness
A player’s chances of injury are decreased when they maintain a comprehensive approach to fitness. Therefore, it’s important for you to develop a fitness plan that includes cardio, flexibility and strength training. By covering each of these health and fitness bases, you will be going a long way to ensuring that your chances of injury - such as one caused by flexibility problems - are greatly reduced.
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Work on different muscles each day
Many people when exercising just like to stick to what makes them look best aesthetically. And sure, whilst it’s a fantastic thing to have strong arms and shoulders in a game of footy, it’s not the only thing you need to develop your game and prevent injury at the same time.
Therefore, be sure to work on different muscle groups each day, ensuring you build the strength needed to ward off injury in each location. This could include working in the upper body across two sessions and the lower body on the third session. Whichever way you go about it, developing strong muscles is essential to keeping injury-free throughout the season.
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Warm up properly before your match
This is especially imperative in a winter sport like AFL, where those frosty mornings on the field can take a real toll on our muscles. Therefore, it’s imperative that you follow your coach’s guidelines and warm up completely before the first bounce, with a host of vital stretches, jogging and other essentials being key to keeping your body warm and match ready as the day goes on.
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Cool down for twice as long, too!
Cooling down is just as imperative as warming up, as it helps regulate your blood flow after a heated game as well as helping recover pregame blood pressure and heart rate. Therefore, be sure to follow a thorough cool down schedule, with the likes of slowly walking around the field and some static stretching are two of the best ways to cool down after a big game.
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Use the right techniques when playing
AFL poses a greater risk to players who don’t follow the correct techniques when playing the game. With so many elements to the game: kicking, handpassing, tackling, bumping, marking the ball etc. and most of these elements posing a potential injury risk, it’s imperative that you learn the techniques properly to avoid a nasty incident which results in injury!
By following these five imperative injury prevention tips, you will be greatly reducing your chances of missing a game or two due to an unwanted and highly unpleasant injury.
Work hard to maintain peak fitness and always warm up and cool down with the most efficiency and you will have a greater chance of making it through this awesome yet tough game without any unwanted pain!
